Westmoor Park

Back in West Hartford, with daughter Susie and the girls visiting for the weekend.

We got to Westmoor Park after the farm closed, but the grounds were open for exploration.

Ridgefield

I stopped in Ridgefield for a day before moving on to West Hartford.

Out of the Jurisdiction: Princeton University

I arrived at the Princeton campus with only one hour of light remaining on a dreary day

 with little light to begin with.  I had never been to Princeton before.

I went first to Nassau Hall, the iconic administration building and the campus' oldest building.

I think the Ivy League requires at least one Richardsonian Romanesque building.

This one is a concert hall.  I heard a rehearsal so I peaked inside.

Then I walked through another quadrangle.

I found lots of young men and women in evening dress.  They were getting ready for a concert.

Out of the Jurisdiction: Grounds for Sculpture

The second day north was just straight driving from St. Augustine to a little north of Richmond.

But, for the third day I had some New Jersey sightseeing planned.  The first stop was Grounds for Sculpture, a 42 acre park with almost 300 sculptures, some huge.

The park is the creation of J. Seward Johnson, a noted sculptor and philanthropist who is a scion of the Johnson & Johnson fortune.  You know his work.  He creates life-sized figures 

of ordinary people doing ordinary things like sitting on benches.  

Sometimes he re-creates famous paintings in three dimensions.

Though the park has many Johnson sculptures, they are a small minority.  

The works of many other noted sculptors are also exhibited. 

Many are nicely situated amidst gardens, water, woods and buildings.
Above, Horace Farlowe, Portal Rest.

Kevin Lyles, Passage.  I liked the way it framed houses outside the park, across the water,

Michelle Post, some figures in a series called The Oligarchs.

One of the most eye-catching works, Johnson's Double Check, has quite a story.  It portrays a businessman on a bench, going through his briefcase in advance of an important meeting.  In 1982 it was placed in a plaza near the World Trade Center, and many passing businessmen identified with it.

On September 11, 2001, terrorists brought the World Trade Center down.  Double Check survived with some scars and was covered with ash.  Rescue workers and visitors turned it into a memorial,

with flowers, photographs and other mementos.  It has been reinstalled in the same park.

Out of the Jurisdiction: St. Augustine

Some heavy rain got me to St. Augustine with less time to explore than I wanted.  

But, I had a bit of time.  My first stop was at Flagler College, a renovation of

the gorgeous Ponce de Leon Hotel, built in 1887.

The ceiling of the great hall is wonderful.

As is the great hall itself.

And the façade.

Two horses drawing a carriage thought I was almost as interesting as I thought they were.

After dinner I walked back to my inn along the bayfront.  

Two lions guarded a bridge.  One stood still for my iPhone.

Better light in the morning showed the inn to advantage.

Out of the Jurisdiction: North Florida Churches

On my first day going north, I drove up the west coast of Florida on an interstate highway,

then crossed north Florida on state roads.  The churches were the most interesting things I passed.

Ocala. 

Three churches in Palatka, one out in the country and two in-town.

And, on arriving in St. Augustine for the evening, a fine church greeted me on King Street.

"Welcome to Southwest Florida"

Passengers leaving the airport for a sunny vacation pass under this sign.
I'm going in the other direction by car.  "So long, Southwest Florida."
For this season.  See you again in the Fall. 

A Portrait Artist

An artist in Olde Naples hangs lovely portraits on a fence on weekends.

Red

I wish I knew more about the flora in Florida.

A New Suit

On the screen of the pool cage.

Yum.

Proud of its work.

Paradise Antiques

I was cutting through a walkway off 3rd Street South and noticed some
very nice blue and white antique Chinese jars in a window.  So I went inside.  

Paradise Antiques has been open in this location only since last September.

Joe Miller operated an antiques store in Georgetown until five or six years ago.

He moved to Naples and opened a similar store a mile and a half from here.
He had a gorgeous walnut Biedermeier table that I loved, but I have no place to put it.

Barbatella

Barbatella is an Italian restaurant on 3rd Street South with a pretty interesting ceiling.

Pottery as Art

Like colorful planters?  Pottery as Art on Old Route 41 in Bonita Springs is for you.

Greater Naples YMCA

The windows of the Y look like a child celebrating a goal, don't you think?

Or a turtle?

A Nice Cove-side Pool

I visited friends Friday night.  Lovely pool and deck overlooking the cove.

DeBruyne Fine Art Gallery

DeBruyne Fine Art Gallery is closing after 30 years in Naples, most of it in the current location on Broad Avenue South.  It has been a family operation and the current generation is retiring.

Suzanne DeBruyne has worked at the gallery for the last 25 years. 

Two Bungalows

Two simple, neat, unpretentious but well-tended bungalows are within an easy walk of the very best places in Olde Naples:  beaches, shopping, restaurants, theater, boating, sports facilities, galleries, etc.

Corkscrew Country Store

Sometimes I come across an isolated, rundown store and wonder about 

the lives of the people who work and shop there.